Catse: Here' s the update! Took a while. If you didn't already know, 's document manager was apparently out for most of the day when I tried to update, but it's working now! Well here is the next chappie, and the next is that favorite I told you about, the one I had planned. It's almost finished, and will probably be up tonight or tomorrow evening. I'll do my best to make it tonight. This story is close to finished, and there are at most three or four chapters left. Well, with out any more to say, here is chapter thirteen.

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Disclaimer: YYH don't belong to me (looks all sad), but oh well, it's still fun to write about!

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Hiei felt torn...

He would first check in on Suta, to see how she was doing, and then jump over to the front of Kurama's school, waiting anxiously for the fox to come out and tell him how it was.

He couldn't get Kurama alone to talk though, for it seemed the entire school kept him busy.

Then Hiei would slip into Koenma's office to listen up on what ever news he received on the barrier and the demon called Shadow.

There didn't seem anything new, so then he returned to Suta's window to see her.

Finally, about the time Kurama was getting out of school, Hiei came to the window and found Suta sitting up, reading the letter that Hiei had found.

She had tears in her eyes, and coughed and hiccupped in her sobbing.

Of course, Hiei slipped into the room to see how she was feeling, and she immediately nabbed his shoulder and sobbed into it, mumbling incoherent things here and then about her mother and father and about how she missed them and gramps and how she felt sort of deprived of them...

Then, once she had dried up her tears, Hiei fetched her the blade and handed it to her.

When she unwrapped it, the tears again welled in her eyes and, once more, the shoulder was snatched.

"Why are you crying? It's just a sword." Hiei replied, staring at Suta, and then the blade, and then back to the sobbing girl hanging onto his shoulder.

"It's not just any sword. You know how I told you my mother practiced with the art of Flame Sword Dancing?"

Hiei nodded.

"This was the sword she used during the dance. It's a rare sword, because of the metal of the blade. The metal had to be welded exactly to ensure that it could hold the oil when it was on fire. This was her sword...and now it's mine."

A few tears dripped from her eyes onto the cool surface of the blade, and then drained down onto her lap from the slick surface.

Hiei remained quiet, comforting her the best he could, asking her how she felt and if she was in any pain.

Her skin felt cold and clammy, and seemed paler than it had before, and her voice was cracked from the crying.

"Thank you Hiei. Thank you."

Hiei became confused.

"For what?"

He received a giggle from that, that made him want to smile.

Want to...But he never really listened to desires most of the time.

"For being my friend Hiei. You and your friends have been the best thing that has happened to me since I lost my parents. I've actually experienced joy here...because of everyone here."

A few more tears dripped from her cheeks, and Hiei reached up to wipe them away with his thumb.

She smiled, and took his hand in her own, holding it to her cheek so she could feel the warmth.

She seemed to relax under his warmth, her eyes closed for a moment, and Hiei reached over and hugged her close to him, hoping that maybe he could make the sickness disappear if he hugged her tight enough.

But her skin remained cold and pale, and her body weak.

Finally, about the time Hiei sensed Kurama walk into Koenma's office, Suta broke away and stared into Hiei's eyes a moment, as if looking for something.

Then, as if satisfied with what she saw there, she shoved the sword into Hiei's hands and wrapped his fingers around the hilt.

"What...What are you doing?"

"I want you to have it Hiei. You're my dearest friend, and my best student. I want you to have the sword."

Hiei shook his head and tried to hand it back.

Of course this was too good a deal to pass down.

A weapon that finely crafted didn't slip into his fingers like this every day!

But it was gifted to her...not him...and it didn't feel right.

"Please Hiei. Take it. It would make me happy to know you have it with you."

Suta coughed and her eyes clenched so tight they nearly brought more tears about.

"You should get more rest." Hiei replied, picking up the blanket.

Suta smiled and laid back onto the bed, curling up comfortably as Hiei tucked her in and kissed her forehead.

He turned to leave, but Suta had one last request.

"Hiei?"

"Yes."

"Please. No matter what...don't forget me. I know I'll never forget you."

Hiei's eyes snapped wide for a moment, before they relaxed and he smiled.

"I could never forget you." And he jumped out of the window and disappeared, the sword that her mother wielded in his grasp, and clenched tight, as if it was Suta's life in his grasp and to let it go would let her die.

'I could never forget you Suta...Never!'

Hiei stepped into Koenma's office as Kurama placed the bottle of red poison on the table and took a seat.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, and Koenma were all huddled around him, waiting for what he had to say.

"Hey, where's Suki?" Botan asked.

As of yesterday, Yusuke and Kuwabara had become Suki's heroes; she would follow them everywhere, and idolize everything they did.

"She's off at school. Said she had some sort of afterschool thing she had to do. She won't be back for another good hour or so." Yusuke replied, looking relieved. "I'm kind of glad she's gone for a while. She was beginning to annoy me."

"Yeah I know. She followed me around asking me questions of how I learned to fight. I couldn't get away from her for anything." Kuwabara agreed sighing in relief.

Botan giggled at this and commented on how much she liked the new girl's cheerfulness and her sense of spunk, and her desire to learn new things.

Yusuke and Kuwabara tuned her out after a while though, when Kurama finally began the report on what he found.

"It's the strangest stuff I've ever come across." He replied, eyeing the bottle on the table.

"What do you mean? How strange?" Koenma pressed on, looking from the bottle of red powder, to Kurama, and then back again.

"It's not a poison at all."

"WHAT!?" everyone chorused.

"But how can that be. You've seen how sick she's become in the last few days!" Botan argued, staring at Kurama in disbelief.

"And how do you explain the seizures, the coughing, the fainting, the fever and cold skin?" Koenma added with the same look as his employee.

"That's the thing. From researching this substance, I have come across with an explanation for why the barrier is thinning."

"What do you mean? Like Suta is the barrier or something?"

"Yes. It is similar to that extent. Haven't you ever wondered what keeps the barrier going? What keeps it strong even after all the attacks to it? It's spirit energy...the same energy we all use to create weapons...but it's an energy of a different kind. Suta's spirit energy must be solely tied in with the barrier, with is why the barrier is thinning as she is getting sicker."

"But you just said that that stuff isn't a poison!" Kuwabara argued, looking confused.

"It isn't, because it cannot kill. It's more like a...how to explain it...call it a mere cold. She can get better, but considering that she's tied into the field, the only way to make her get better is to get her to touch the field itself, so that she can fully unite the energies."

"So you're saying that Suta is a human version of the barrier?" Yusuke asked, trying to get an understanding.

"Yes. That and I found something else out through a little research. Apparently, the barrier's only true weakness comes under the full moon. That's when the moonlight shines on it and thins it out. Strangely enough, the full moon is at the exact time the field is supposed to fall."

"And what about Suta. What happens if the field falls?"

Kurama was silent for a moment, looking remorseful.

"She dies."

There was silence.

The group was now trying to decipher the information they had been given.

Suta...die?

It seemed impossible.

She was so bright and cheerful, and so kind and generous.

How was it possible that she could die?

Wasn't there any other way to keep her living?

"Then I gather we have a timed case here. You all will have to infiltrate the demon's lair, kill him, and get Suta to touch the barrier in order to heal her and it. This will most likely be one of the toughest cases you all have ever had to do. It will require speed, strength, and whatever you have to get in, and then to get out alive. I'll call you all back in here in an hour. One of my secretaries is doing research on the demon called Shadow and she's almost finished finding everything. Please prepare. We have only three days left and we need you to be ready!"

Hiei immediately left to try to tell Suta the news, if he could.

He'd only tucked her in a good thirty minutes ago, but he had the feeling she wasn't sleeping.

As he stepped out into the garden, preparing to go up to the window to see her, he was caught by surprise when a familiar blue haired, red eyed girl jumped into his arms.

"Hiei! How have you been?" She asked, hugging him tightly. "I missed you niisan!"

"Yukina? What are you doing here?" Hiei asked, hugging her slightly, but with a blush.

He hoped nobody would see this and think him a softy.

He wasn't a softy!

Well, at least not in public.

Yukina stepped back with a polite smile to answer him. "I came to visit you niisan. I wanted to make sure you were alright. Now that I have an older brother that is."

Hiei smiled gently and nodded.

"I'm glad you were worried. I'll have to talk to you in a minute. I need to check on something."

Yukina nodded, and smiled when she noticed Kuwabara walking out into the garden talking to Yusuke.

The only thing Hiei heard after that was: "Yukina my love! What are you doing here?"

'Incompetent fool...why does she like him so much?'

Hiei jumped up to the room and slipped in, but stopped cold when he noticed the bed empty, and no one else in the room.

'What the...where...where did she go?!'

He jumped out the window and stared searching the garden for her, but found not a single trace of her.

He searched the room again, then the kitchen, and then, in desperation, he used the Jagan to find her.

'What the...! How'd she get there?!'

His Jagan told him that she was sitting inside her old home, right in her grandfather's bedroom.

Hiei immediately leapt trough a portal and landed outside of her home.

The door was open, and a light was on in the bedroom window.

He ran inside, hoping she was okay, and sighed when he walked into the bedroom and found her sitting on the floor, staring at it.

She looked rather depressed, with her legs held close to her with use of her arms, and her chin resting on her knees.

Her hair covered her face, so he couldn't see what expression was there.

"Suta?"

Her head snapped up and Hiei noticed the rage of tears over her soft cheeks.

Crying?

Why was she crying?

"Suta, what are you doing here?"

"None of your business." She replied coldly, turning away from him.

"Suta? What's wrong?" He stepped over to her and knelt before her, trying to see her face.

The hair hid most of it, but he could see she was in pain.

Several types actually.

The pain of the sickness...mental pain...

What was wrong with her?

Hiei reached out to brush the hair out of her face, but she slapped his hand away and glared at him.

"Don't touch me."

"What's wrong?" he replied with a worried look.

"You are!"

"What?!"

"I saw her Hiei. I saw the witch you were hugging! I don't even know why I bothered with you! You didn't care for me! You had someone else!"

"Huh? What girl?"

What was she talking about?

He hadn't been hugging any girls...

Oh no...

"She has blue hair and she was all over you Hiei!" She shouted, standing up with her hand on her belly in pain.

She was feeling sick in every way and Hiei couldn't help but feel miserable for her.

He wanted her to rest...and be safe...not here...this was where her sadness began...

This old house was the resting spot of her grandfather...and the parents if he was correct.

"Suta?"

"Don't you dare say my name! I'm Sutamina to you you jerk!" She shouted.

"Stop this! The girl I was hugging was my sister Yukina!" Hiei replied.

"Right. How much more are you going to lie to me Hiei! You already said you didn't have any siblings, and then you tell me that you all of a sudden have a sister!"

Hiei was silent for a moment.

That was right...

He had told her that he was lonely...that he had no siblings.

But that was when he didn't want Yukina told about his relationship to her.

But then he told her...but never told Suta.

'What a stupid mistake?!'

Now she thought he loved another woman and that he'd been two timing her.

How complicated the human life was!

"Suta..."

"Just leave Hiei! Walk out that door and don't come back!"

Hiei froze.

Don't come back...?

He couldn't do that...

He couldn't leave and try to forget.

Hadn't he already told her that he couldn't forget her...that he never would.

"Suta..."

"Go!" Hiei hung his head and turned around, preparing to leave, but he had to make on thing straight.

"She is my sister. I didn't tell you because not even she knew at the time. She came looking for me and I didn't want her to know she had a murderer for a brother. I finally told her because of something you said. 'Don't leave anyone in the Dark.' Now she knows. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I was so caught up in everything that I couldn't. I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"Leave Hiei."

Hiei kept his head hung as he left the room.

That was it...he'd lost her...everything they had...it was all gone...

He'd never get to see her smile again...never get to kiss her...or hug her ever again...

It was over...

He left the home and stood for a moment on the street, staring at the house.

How lonely and tall it seemed...

The death place of many...and the sorrow of his mind.

She was finished with him...and that was it.

She was gone.

He tried to walk away, to hopefully find someplace he could be in private, but his legs wouldn't move.

They wouldn't let him leave.

"Suta...I'm sorry."

He turned around but right when he opened the portal a muffled scream reached his ears from inside the home itself.

With lightning speed and worry energizing his feet, he jumped up to an open window and zipped inside.

Funny...he didn't remember a window being open before.

He was now in the room...her grandfather's room...and face to face with the man that had supposedly 'poisoned' Suta.

It was Shadow...he knew it was...he could tell.

The man was tall, probably a little taller than Kuwabara, cloaked in black silk that completely covered his body except for his hands and head, and dark shimmering purple hair that flowed down his back in a braid.

His eyes were yellow, with cat like slits, and his cheeks had the slightest brush of whiskers.

Figured...

Shadow was a Cat demon.

No wonder he had played everything so intelligently.

They had been chasing after a freaking Cat demon!

Over his shoulder, unconscious, was Suta, her face even paler from her fright as before she was knocked out.

"Suta!"

"Hello...Hiei." The man's soft voice replied as he smiled mischeviously.

"You are Shadow. Correct?" Hiei replied with a glare.

So this was the man causing all of Suta's pain.

"I am. My, to stand before one of the most powerful demons to still be living. 'Tis an honor Hiei the Forbidden child."

That caught Hiei's attention.

He was smart alright.

Researched each of them most likely to the tee of knowing their favorite foods.

He made sure to know who he was dealing with before playing games.

"Give me Suta, and perhaps I won't slit your throat so deep." Hiei replied, resting his hand on the hilt of his old sword.

He wasn't ready to use the one Suta gave him, because it seemed too precious to dip in demon's blood.

"Hah. You have a sense of humor. I'm glad. That will make this all very interesting."

Hiei continued to glare, waiting for whatever the other demon would say.

"But you know, the barrier becomes weaker every day, and so will you're dear Sutamina here."

He said, running on clawed hand through her hair.

"Don't touch her!" Hiei growled, tightening his grip on the hilt.

"So, you two have something close. Cute. But what will you do Hiei? She is in my arms, and I am your barrier from her. What will you do to save the one you supposedly love?"

Hiei didn't reply.

He pulled the sword from it's sheath and jumped out as fast as he could to slash Shadow's head off.

The demon moved at an incredible rate of speed, and so Hiei was left standing where he once stood, searching for him.

He found the demon outside the widow on a tree branch, smiling.

"You're fast Hiei, but the cat is faster. I'll be seeing you soon I presume, so I needn't stay around long. Good bye Hiei. I look forward to killing you in less than three days, so don't disappoint me."

The demon left through a portal, the black silk on his jacket flapping behind him as he disappeared.

So that was Shadow...

'His head is mine!'

Hiei thrust his sword into the floor in a rage, and yelled away his anger as he continually stabbed the wood.

Finally, tired of the floor, he stood huffing, and re-sheathed his sword.

If it was a match the demon wanted, it was a match he was going to receive!

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Catse: What do you think? Rather sad I know. Please don't hate me for doing this, but it couldn't a perfect relationship just from the off. There'd be no REAL enjoyment then. Don't worry, this isn't going to end sadly, I'll tell you that. You'll like the ending, I promise you that! But for now, I must leave to write the next chapter. Ja Ne all!